AltiNews

Newsletters play a role in a strong communication strategy

It is useless to remind you what a Newsletter is. You probably receive about a dozen every day. The Newsletter is perhaps the online communication that is the most used by companies to share their news. Never the less, it’s very complicated to make them work efficiently.Many Newsletters are made without thinking about the targeted audience. They should be developed through a strategy, a design in parallel with your communication and a coherent content…The tacit rules when creating a Newsletter are numerous. Many times those elements are found but some other times they are missing due to multiple sendings.

What about you ? Are you properly using the newsletter tool ?

Design: key element of your Newsletter

First of all, “design” and “development” are not the same.

To create a design, creating skills and knowledge are required. A designer will use a combination of well thought graphic elements, colors and images in order to produce an visually attractive email. A novice will mix up graphic elements and bright colors while attempting to increase the Newsletter’s impact. Unfortunately, this confusion will push the reader further from the actual content of the email.

You need a certaine experience to create an attractive Newsletter. The best way to stand out, is to use simple “templates” that are clean, elegant, personalized and creative. Always choose a neat structure which will embrace your Newsletter content. It will then make it easier to develop it in HTML. The development requires knowledge in HTML and CSS. You may still find “templates” but to fully personalized them you will need a professional.

Another good tip is to respect your general design. It is very important that the reader recognize your visual communication (branding) at first sigh. Therefor you will have to follow your guideline.

Go straight to the point with a marvelous content

Do not waste your reader’s time. Make sure that your Newsletter clearly states the addressed subjects. The content should be direct. If your information are substantial, multiply the links redirected to this content. Your goal is to create a limited number of small columns of text and images to create a cohesive look.

If you have a blog, the most efficient way to present your Newsletter is by showing some of your articles’s summaries and to make it easy for the reader to access your blog via a hypertext link. This also apply yo infographics. For example when you show a piece of it in your Newsletter and add a link to redirect the reader to the entire infographic.

To find the right balance between the information and the advertising side, you must establish the themes and topics first. By doing so, you will ease the comprehension of the content with a good structure. You should never lose the reader’s interest. A reader never expect to receive your Newsletter, that is why it should be brief and precise.

Quality text and images will help you stand out from the competition and increase your reader’s interest.

A strategy behind every Newsletter

Decide on the target and the goals your Newsletter should reach. Do not hesitate to divide your contact list. This will allow you to send a personalized content with the right tone, design and topic, potentially interesting to each target group.

If you developed a good strategy, used your target group knowledge and if you determined the optimal moment to send your Newsletter, you have the foundation to ensure the success of your Newsletter.

Last small advice

Image blocking is frequent. Sometimes, in mailboxes like Outlook, gmail and AOL, your pictures might not appear by default. Your reader will have to click to download and see your them. This is the reason why you should never create a Newsletter and an email that are only a picture. Be sure to always have an HTML version online, as well as a text format, because most of the times the readers do not know they have the possibility to show the images or not.